Desert Gold, by The Big Bend

Desert Gold

by The Big Bend

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Matthais If you like bluesrock with some soul-elements you should try this! Favorite track: White Rooms, Red Cups.

michael beaver Such an awesome song with a sad story and a girl's father you instantly despise with train whistles in all the right spaces. Favorite track: Her Daddy Knows.

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1.	Busted Screen Door Blues 04:32	lyrics	buy track
Your brother rides a bucket with the firebird paint, calls it a Trans-Am, we both know that it aint -- bet it makes them rebel girls faint. Well he don't bother me, he never said he was a saint. Caught your mom climbing on my backyard fence said she bringin' me flowers and her own home-made incense -- oh lord! I know that don't make no sense. She better start telling the truth, these lies are making me tense. I know you come down by the cigarette smoke and how you slurred every word that you spoke, girl. How you was gone when I awoke! Well I didn't mean to laugh, I just thought it was a joke. Your dad broke in to take the crown from my bed, he seems to think it can give life to the dead. I swear to God that's what he said -- tell him he got all that he needs, he can get on out my door.
2.	Sixty Hours 04:45	lyrics	buy track
We bought shoes and sugar cubes off a store on route 19 On our way to Louisville or was it New Orleans The bandages came off and we had to stop and take a rest to let the blood out - in the air :Chorus: It's getting harder to make arrangements It's easier to slip away The kid says he's got big things coming But he says it like it's not okay The protest boys are in the canyon - going underground It takes them sixty hours just to buy them twenty rounds He says that one day - he'll move west when things get bad enough But I don't really think they've got - the stones for that :Chorus:
3.	The Sun and the Gun Smoke 04:51	lyrics	buy track
Out here the smoke gets so thick you can't breath, it stings your eyes, stains your teeth, fear of the furnace is a quiet sound, the song of skeletons moving around -- bury them deep in the ground. The scenery changes every couple of hours so keep your eye on the mirror in the tower, keep your grip on the charms round your neck, count the rings that age every step that we take together. :Chorus: It's true what they say, there's no place for you where I live under the sun and the gun smoke. I hear the hiss of the steam, I taste the blood on the floor, I feel the sparks on my skin, I see the place where the secret begins. :Bridge: Come back inside! Come back inside! There's nowhere left for us to hide! Babe, I hear footsteps out in the hall, the only way out is to get down and crawl on our knees! :Chorus:
4.	All For Lona Lee 03:50	lyrics	buy track
Bottles and bookshelves hide all the letters that I write mostly late at night -- They're all for Lona Lee. She tore the dress from her marionette, all those gold buttons painted red now lost in our bed -- They're all for Lona Lee. So doctor gives her pills but she puts 'em with her jewelry in a trunk down below her bunk -- They're all for Lona Lee. No cigarettes on the bus, driver says to hold my breath for a while and try to count every mile -- They're all for Lona Lee. I left so much behind: winter coats, and gloves, even once my shoe well what else could I do? I live for Lona Lee.
5.	Silver Dollar Table 04:34	lyrics	buy track
Well the storms off the streets The leaves are in the air So dust your window curtains and walk right down these stairs Ain't your kisses I been missing not your soft and rhythmic touch Just this whiskey I been drinking and the cash we'd make in love Well It's just across the streets From the stories I been told But there ain't too many able to keep it up alone and I know that ain't - ain't much at all At the Silver Dollar Table I lost my last good sense Sold my eyes down in Texas Brought back the last week's rent Kept going south Mexico to loose my ball and chain but I drove back up from Georgia just to tie you down again So double down my wages put my house on up for sale cause I've been feeling lucky since I walked right out of jail and you say that ain't - ain't much at all They said it would be easy they said it would be cheap they said it'd keep me young but I know it's out of reach Well I can't go home I take a hand at the cross they can't track me baby you know I'm already lost but you can come and find me by the whistle of my bones and I guess you'll know it's me cause I guess we're all alone and I know that ain't - ain't much at all It's just across the streets from the stories I've been told but there ain't to many able to keep it up alone and I know that ain't - ain't much at all
6.	The Last Night With Marie 04:13	lyrics	buy track
The sun goes down slow on this old border town where the midnight air heats up when the cops come around. And your mercury mood, like the sirens outside, wild whirlin' lights and the tears that you cried for long lost friends who've betrayed you and lied -- but Marie, in this room, it's just you and me. You often talk of electric storms out west that bore the thunder that beats in your chest. Now you feel a cold wind blowin' on your skin and all those wicked looks shame the fire within 'till you're just too scared to even begin -- but Marie, in this room, no one can see. The faded motel lights signal the dead and a thousand other things that I ought to have said. Soon the restless sun will cut through the blinds and this feeling of fear washed from our minds, traded for the empty ache of a love left behind -- but Marie, tonight, I'm down on one knee.
7.	White Rooms, Red Cups 05:52	lyrics	buy track
I won't forget the way you dance or the kids passed out in the chairs. The music's loud, ah! gimme a chance there's an empty room upstairs. :Chorus: When we touch it feels good, but not like it should -- saying good bye hurts, just not as much as it could. These off-white rooms turn inside out red plastic cups crushed in the ground. In the basement, babe, there's an ugly sound but your fingers pull my hair when I look down. :Chorus: Downstairs, your friends, they all call this cheap but cheap drinks, babe, they still go down sweet. Now come lie down in your best friend's bed and just try to forget all the shit they said. :Chorus:
8.	It Only Happens When It's Late 04:45	lyrics	buy track
Tonight the side streets are empty the snow drove the city kids inside. Even though the trees are dead, and the flower beds are buried in stone, I can hear them -- but tonight I'm all alone. Footprints don't promise a place to hide neither do the shadows from the stairs. The sour perfume out in the living room doesn't wash out, but I don't mind it just as long as I'm alone. Porch lights fade away when it's could, floorboards tremble at the salt trucks passing by. The furnace dial and the cough syrup vial should stay where they are, but I can't help it -- I just can't leave 'em alone. The bed is hard and it is big. I left the T.V. on downstairs. The curtains sway and the half-lights weigh hard on my heart, but I still need them -- I just can't fall asleep alone.
9.	Her Daddy Knows 04:56	lyrics	buy track
When I hear the drums beat out in the street I know my love will come to see me. When I hear the bells ring, and the wild dogs sing, I know my love will come to see me. And when daylight fails, the east winds wail, and shooting stars burn a trail through the veiled sky, my love will come to see me. The ground is cold on her bare feet but still she comes to see me. The wine she holds spills in the dirt but still she comes to see me. And the gilded throne, and the stepping stones outside her daddy's home beg her not to roam, but still she comes to see me. Pools of rust form on the iron fence where she gonna meet me. Two silver rings hidden in the tall grass where she gonna meet me. And my old suitcase, but I see her face and a broken vase, and a ribbon tied around her waist, but still she gonna meet me. The conductor says, "why two seats?" I say my baby's coming with me. I got a good job down in New Orleans and my baby's coming with me. But the pain starts slow, and it grows, 'till the last train whistle blows. Somehow her daddy knows, and she's not coming with me.
10.	Unforgivable 04:35	lyrics	buy track
I was cut down on your street Needles in my feet Standing on your corner looking bored I said I was busy Busy looking busy But all the other options were explored :Chorus: When you can't find nothing, you don't go - singing round again You'll just find a bigger bottle When I'm not - a better friend Now you said it was time Time to draw the line The clock was set far before - I know Maybe it will swing your way Promising new days but you should know that I can't let this go :Chorus: I'm Unforgivable Well I am just a man With roses in his hands So I guess you've got to go have your suspicion I left them on the bed Smelling sweet - but long been dead Still you don't know the lengths of my conviction :Chorus: I'm Unforgivable
11.	Drifter's Ballad 04:17	lyrics	buy track
Work bell rings at the break of dawn man, every day is the same. And we're just some poor old boys only got ourselves to blame. And men like us ain't got money ever any longer than a day. And men like us never got nobody -- we tell ourselves that it's okay. Coz that's the way it's gonna stay. When you hit rock bottom don't you pawn that guitar man, it ain't worth a dime. Those red-eyed boxcar nights are long, it'll help you pass the time. And men like us can't earn our way so we drink the bucket gin instead. And men like us can't get away so we drink until we wind up dead. Or wander streets that never end. Don't worry about the girls you leave behind man, they don't remember you. Just one more poor drifter off the rail you're gonna leave here that way too. And men like us our, blood runs thin and it's all we leave behind. And men like us, we push it hard though we never have much time before we move on down the line.
12.	Right Now 04:34	lyrics	buy track
Look at you, always such a mess you spilled wine on your dress. You didn't know, 'till we got in bed that the stain would spread. A dog barks, windows quake but I'm still wide awake. And I feel weak, it's as if I cried but you're still sleeping by my side. :Chorus: I know one day I'll feel this way about somebody new. Right now I hope I never do. Right now I love missing you. I never knew that you could sing, a quiet sound morning brings. BUt when you go, I stay in bed and thunder pounds in my head. :Chorus:
13.	Diamonds and Keys 03:44	lyrics	buy track
Well they took away my keys at the bar so tonight I'm sleeping in the car. I wouldn't drink another beer if I could even though it might do me good. The bench seat is room enough for one it's all that's left once the night is done. I crack a window to let in the air. I won't sleep but I don't care. :Chorus: Diamonds and keys, baby please stars still shine on nights like these. Hair-pins and dimes ain't so strange, maybe some things never change. The only other car in the parking lot -- a broke down old wreck next to my spot. That red paint been peelin' off for years, how come they let it rust out here? I can still see my fingers in the dark just enough to set the match to spark. But tonight I'll let those lonesome troubles roam and in the morning head on home. :Chorus:
14.	Desert Gold 04:13	lyrics	buy track
Finally the rental car died, it was on a highway in New Mexico. The wheel locked and the engine lights glowed and we drifted off the road. At night heat rises from the rocks and moves in waves across the land. I can see the backseat in the rear-view mirror: a book and a case of beer. :Chorus: Desert gold, I been told, is a sight to behold. Some grow old, I been told, and never see the desert gold. Your hands are always cold, and your heart beats slow. Outside a shadow floats above the ground and it doesn't make a sound. I miss the loneliness of night, moonlight stretched across the sand. And while you sleep, I'll close my eyes every time a car passes by. :Chorus:

credits

released October 30, 2009

Chet Vincent - Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica
Tad Wissel - Vocals, Bass
Andy Voltz - Piano, Organ, Vocals
Dan Dickison - Guitar
Abe Anderson - Drums, Percussion

All songs on Desert Gold arranged and performed by Chet Vincent and the Big Bend. Guest artists: Anna Elder (bg vox), Alex Sands (chimes). All songs recorded and produced by Nate Campisi at Mr. Smalls Studio, Pittsburgh, PA USA. Album art and concept by Jason Georgiades. Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.

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about

The Big Bend Pittsburgh

Chet Vincent is a singer-songwriter from PGH, PA. His current bands are:

The Music Industry
(rock/folk/psych)

Shop Til U Drop
(garage)

Former Projects:

The Big Bend
(rock/blues)

Biirdwatcher
(acoustic/folk) ... more